


Silence over science

by TwixxCatt



Series: Superhero Soul Songs [7]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Genre: Other, Please guys be safe, Warning: Suicide Attempt, child abuse mention, gun warning, self harm warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 19:12:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12305832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwixxCatt/pseuds/TwixxCatt
Summary: There are two mentions of attempted suicide please be safe. Don't read if guns or knives trigger you. There are also a few mentions of child abuse. Please don't read if any of the above trigger you





	Silence over science

**Author's Note:**

> There are two mentions of attempted suicide please be safe. Don't read if guns or knives trigger you. There are also a few mentions of child abuse. Please don't read if any of the above trigger you

Bruce Banner is born to a song of science. His soul already resonating with the sounds of machines humming and numbers flying by. His soul does not follow the rules of music, instead it pulses and flows like the energy signature of an element. 

By the time Bruce is five he has already learned to hide, to duck under the fist and run, to climb into a tree or crawl into a cabinet, to silence his song for a few more minutes of being safe from the anger. Bruce is five and his song is not the loud bright noise of a child, no, it's the quiet noise of one who is afraid to live.

When he is ten his mom dies. No one knows why the woman with a perfect house and a perfect husband would take her own life (Bruce knows, he knows and he wishes she had taken his as well) but they all pity her son. Her son who had always had a quiet song but now church bells toll from inside him, they play a song of loss and fear, and everyone feels it deep in their chest. 

Bruce loses his… (tormentor, jailer, abuser) father six years later. He doesn't care beyond a sense of relief. At sixteen Bruce is already in his second year of college, and now his song of science sings loudly once again. 

By the age of twenty Bruce has his father's old position, doing scientific work for the company and advancing them by leaps and bounds. He meets a woman named Betty and falls for her with the passing time, his song now playing soft flutters of chiptune when she's around. 

He conducts a life changing experiment and wakes up naked three towns away. He doesn't understand what happened, he can't remember, but his song is the same and so, it appears, is he. 

He isn't the same, he's on the run. The army is after him because he turns into a giant angry beast. He slowly becomes able to remember what he does, sometimes, and he learns how to control it. To an extent anyway. 

The army is after him, Betty is dead, Bruce wants to die. His soul screams of pain, of loss, of hate for himself and for Ross (Ross the reason he's here, the reason she's dead). Bruce tries to put a bullet in his head, HE spits it out. Bruce tries to stab himself in the chest, HE heals the wound. Bruce gives up.

Bruce has found, not quite peace but, stability in India. He's happy here, helping the sick, atoning for his sins. His song has calmed down and now sings of science and his gentle care for these people who need it most. 

She shows up, he doesn't know her but she convinces him to leave, to go back into the lifestyle that led him here. He goes because she's the polar opposite of Betty and he thinks he can deal with this.

He deals with it, he makes a new friend who's just as messed up as him, maybe even more. He works science with Tony and his soul sings louder. He recognizes the look in Clint's eyes when someone in the common room gets a bit too loud a second too fast and shows Clint that he knows. His song gets the melody of caring for people back and he is LIVING. 

Wanda messes with his head. For the first time he can hear HIS soul song. The Hulk, they call HIM, has a song that's full of fear, of pain, of confusion, HE only wants to keep Bruce (and by extension himself) safe from harm. When Bruce wakes up he knows he's gonna have to leave. He doesn't want to but he's putting them in danger by being near. Clint and Tony, who share his past experience with uncontrolled angry men, Natasha who he may love even though she doesn't make his soul sing chiptune, Steve and Thor are the only ones he knows he won't cause lasting damage to. His soul tries to express his grief over leaving, he silences it.

Years later, after all the fighting is done and everyone can rest, he comes back. His song is wild now a mix of science and silence and survival. But they accept him back with open arms and he slowly gains back the trust he lost. He lives happily for the rest of his life


End file.
